[CQ-Contest] UPDATE: CQ WW DX SSB Midwest vs East Coast

[K9MA]

The results of one contest really don't tell you anything. Propagation 
is just too variable.

One of the biggest factors in DX contests is how close the path goes to 
the magnetic pole. If you play around with Google Maps, which will plot 
circle routes, you will see, for example, how that path between EU an NA 
varies dramatically as you move the endpoints east-west, at the same 
latitude. A station in NA 200 miles east of another usually has a huge 
advantage on that path. I hear that all the time: a station 200 miles 
east of me working Europeans I can't hear. For non-polar paths, I don't 
think there is often a big difference due to longitude.

One way to experience the dramatic variations in propagation, in both 
time and geography, is to operate the weekly CwOps CWT's. I've done 
hundreds of them now, and it's really interesting to see how the results 
vary. One operator, about 250 miles NW of me, has a similar station and, 
I think, operating skills. Yet the differences in our scores can be 
dramatic, in either direction. The same is true overall: sometimes it's 
a west coast day, sometimes an east coast one, and, every once in a 
while, a midwest one. Or sometimes, like last night, nobody's.


73,

Scott K9MA

-- 
Scott  K9MA

k9ma at sdellington.us